Karl Evers-Hillstrom joined the Center for Responsive Politics in October 2018. As CRP’s money-in-politics reporter, he writes and edits stories for the news section and helps manage a team of diligent writers. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Karl graduated from State University of New York at New Paltz in 2016 with a B.A. in journalism. He previously worked at The Globe, a regional newspaper based in Worthington, Minnesota. His email is kevers@crp.org.
High-powered super PACs are helping presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden make up ground on social media against President Donald Trump, who has dominated online advertising since he took office.
The Trump campaign outspent Biden $18.5 million to $11.2 million on Facebook ads since the start of 2020, according to new online ad data published on OpenSecrets' presidential profiles in partnership with the Wesleyan Media Project. But outside groups spent $9.1 million backing Biden and just $2.8 million boosting Trump, giving the Republican only a slight spending advantage on the nation's largest social media platform this year.
Both presidential contenders buy Facebook ads to attract small-dollar donors. Some of their ads directly ask for money or attempt to sell campaign merchandise, while others are meant to acquire supporters' emails through provocative polls or petitions.
However, only Biden receives significant support on Facebook from outside groups that are trying to sway how users in swing states will vote on Election Day. Biden's online operation is still in development, while Trump's well-funded campaign has only grown its massive digital footprint over the last four years. That's where big-dollar outside groups are helping the Biden campaign by launching attacks on the president.
Priorities USA, the leading Democratic outside group, spent about $5 million on Facebook ads between several different pages. "Cost of Chaos" and "Facts First" hammer Trump over his administration's response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Another of its pages, "Hablemos Claro USA," attempts mostly to reach Latinos in Florida, attacking Trump over his administration's proposed Medicare spending cuts.
PACRONYM, the super PAC arm of a Democratic "dark money" group, spent $1.9 million on Facebook ads through its page "Four is Enough." The group's attacks are mostly focused around COVID-19 testing shortages and the Trump administration's support for a lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. It's also running Instagram ads attacking the bipartisan expanded small business loan program for giving loans to large companies.
Pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country shelled out over $878,000 on Facebook through mid-March 2020 but slowed its spending after Biden effectively clinched the Democratic primary. Biden recently signaled to donors that Priorities USA is his campaign's preferred outside group, leading to a massive drop-off in donations to Unite the Country. Another pro-Biden super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century, spent nearly $700,000 on Facebook ads.
Less prominent groups, like the Committee to Protect Medicare and the dark money group Fellow Americans, are running anti-Trump ads on the social media platform.
Trump doesn't receive the same kind of outside support on Facebook. America First Action is the only outside group spending big to back Trump. The president's preferred super PAC [America First Action] has spent over $721,000 on Facebook, with its recent ads focused on a sexual assault allegation [see: Joe Biden] against Biden.
The Trump campaign doesn't need as much outside help because it is flush with cash, holding nearly $108 million in the bank to Biden's $57 million. The campaign's most recent digital ad campaign attempts to capitalize on Biden's comments that African-American voters "ain't black" if they support Trump [video].
[Source | full interview]
Pro-Biden Facebook advertisers have spent slightly more money on Facebook ads in swing states than Trump and his supporters, edging them out in Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump spends more in redder states such as Texas and Georgia.
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